'CHiPs' coming to the big screen?

Posted Monday, April 18, 2005 at 3:53 PM Central

by Tim Briscoe

This one was inevitable. Adapting TV action-dramas into big screen comedies has been successful enough for Hollywood studios to try the formula again and again.

The latest entry (or perhaps victim) seems to be "CHiPs", the '80s series which ran on NBC from 1977-1983. Web site contactmusic.com reports that negotiations are going forward to bring the series to the silver screen. The source of the scuttlebutt? None other than Frank Poncherello himself -- Erik Estrada.

Estrada claims comedian turned sitcom star George Lopez will takeover his role as Ponch. Former "Friends" star Matthew Perry is said to be up for Jon Baker, you know the blond guy on the show played by Larry Wilcox.

With buddy action-comedies I Spy and Starsky & Hutch having already performed moderately well at the box office and Miami Vice and The Dukes of Hazzard on their way, this one could very well see the light of day.